Kim’s passion for the horse started when she was a young child.  She grew up with the stories of “Black Beauty,” “The Black Stallion”, and “My Friend Flicka.”  Anything and everything that had to do with horses Kim wanted it.  To date she still has her original collection of Beyer horses which includes two stables and fencing.  At the age of 4 Kim took her first pony ride.  Around and around she went in the little corral, but when it came time to leave she refused to get off the pony.  Born and raised in Denver, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to be around horses in the city, but every chance she got Kim found a way to be around horses.  Kim was an active participant in Girl Scouts and did the summer camps that offered horseback riding.  When she was 10 years old she took group riding lessons where they also learned how to ride bareback.  As Kim became more involved with school and her friends, she turned her focus to competitive swimming.  On the high school swim team as well as a private swim team she traveled the state and into Wyoming for swim meets.  However, Kim never lost her passion for the horse.  She knew some day she would have her own horse.  On family driving vacations she would visualize herself riding her very own horse in the Colorado mountains.

In 1994 Kim moved to Tucson, Arizona to attend the University of Arizona.  There she studied environmental sciences as well as veterinary sciences like animal anatomy, animal diseases, wildlife diseases, developmental biology and genetics.  In 1998 Kim graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology with split minor in Calculus, Physics and Chemistry.

Kim got her first horse at the age of 26.  A grade Arabian gelding named Zimi.  Zimi was a dream come true for Kim. They went on trail rides and over night camping trips together.  After seven months Zimi died unexpectedly.  It was heart wrenching for Kim (she also was present when he passed), but she knew her time with horses had not come to an end.  The following year Kim got another horse, an Arabian gelding named Night.  Kim and Night have been together for over six years now.  They trail ride, show in Western Pleasure, Native Costume and Trail classes.  Night has been a wonderful teacher and soul mate to Kim.

In 2002 Kim began attending the University of Colorado at Denver while working full time.  Kim studied a little biology, but mostly focused her studies on web development specifically development of educational web sites and usability.  In 2005 Kim graduated with a 4.0 GPA and a Master’s degree in Integrated Sciences (Mathematics, Computer Science, and Applied Science).  

Kim and Night were introduced to the show world by Janice Green, owner of J Bar 4 Ranch where Kim and Night took lessons and participated in Janice’s classes and programs.  Kim and Night have completed Janice’s ground work program and are currently working through her riding program.  Kim and Night have won many ribbons together in the show ring, including several first place wins and many second and third places.  Kim has all her ribbons on display in her home office.

When Kim got laid off from her corporate job, she realized she did not want to spend the rest of her life in a cube farm and decided to turn her passion into her new career.  She met Anna Twinney a professional horse woman and began taking her clinics.  Anna and Kim quickly formed a friendship and Anna became Kim’s mentor.  Kim worked for Anna and continued to take her clinics.  Since Anna travels the world, she helped Kim locate another mentor to complete a full time apprenticeship close to home.  They found Brad Meyers of Conifer, Colorado.  Kim spent a year and half with Brad on her apprenticeship.  Kim was then offered and accepted a 6 month training position with LZ Horse Training of Watkins, Colorado.  There she rode and trained horses, while learning addition skills and tools used in training performance horses from both Lisette Zandvoort and Janice Green.  After Kim completed her position with LZ Horse Training, she leased a facility near Chatfield State Park. Kim is now located at Fiery Sky Ranch in Elizabeth, Colorado. In 2010, Kim teamed up with the Saddle Up Foundation to tune up and train their therapeutic riding horses.

Kim’s experiences and training have taken her all across the Front Range.  She has taken the best of what she has learned from each mentor and her experiences and incorporated them into her own training philosophy and methodology.  Kim continues to grow and learn from each client and horse she encounters.  Kim has also taken three animal communication courses, and in 2010 became a certified Reiki Master (Energy Healing).  Kim says, “I never want to stop learning, and there is no better teacher than a horse!”